Mission Smitten
by RuneYue
Summary: This had to be the worst mission known to humankind to ever exist. Yet, they were determined.


**Title:** Mission Smitten**  
Series: **Naruto**  
Parings/Characters:** Chouji and Sakura, with hints of Naruto x Sakura and Chouji x Ino.**  
Disclaimer:** All, except for this story, belong to Kishimoto.**  
Rating/Warnings:** T or PG-13, to be safe with some of the suggestions. A bit AUish.**  
Dedication:** Fans of either parings hinted at in this fic.**  
Summary:** _This had to be the worst mission known to humankind to ever exist. Yet, they were determined._

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They had met at the market by Chance and had become partners in this incredibly dangerous mission by Fate.

After all, the only one who would steal the most vital component of this mission from them would be Chance. At least, the only one to survive stealing from beneath their very grasp.

He, Chouji Akimichi, and her, Sakura Haruno, were comrades in arms in the most dangerous, mind breaking, heart wrenching, adrenaline pumping, sweat pouring, tears making mission known to civilian and shinobi alike; Valentine's Day.

Or, to be precise, making sweets for Valentine's Day.

Of course, Chouji knew that Valentine's day was typically reserved for the women to give sweets and all sorts of nice gifts to the men, but all the women in his life were well worth breaking tradition for.

Chance had done wrong by them in this most important mission. Right as each chuunin was about to make a grab for the last bag of meltable chocolate chunks, a sweet, young girl snatched it from under them. Neither Sakura or Chouji were about to take it away from her. That just wouldn't be in the spirit of things - for him - nor the right thing to do to a little girl with her heart set on gifting her crush - for her.

Glancing at each other, the two chuunin shared a defeated sigh and went on to survey the rest of the near barren wasteland of the market that was scene one in the battle for Valentine's Day happiness.

They strolled down the rest of the standard Valentine's Day isles in the market, overlooking the stuffed animals - that Chouji knew Ino held no interest for -, almost jogging past the sparkling and sometimes musical cards - that Sakura knew were much too subtle for her own blonde beau -, edging away from the picked through sexy lingerie - that both were much too modest for, let alone that it was _picked through_ - staring wistfully at the empty racks which advertised missing sweets of other types and walking dejectedly away from the little odds and ends that most children liked giving to their classmates during the love struck holiday.

With the typical gift ideas out of question, both made their way through the rest of the store with all too few fragments of lingering hope. Personal bathing items were just a no in any language for any individual - no one wanted to insult or be insulted due to senses of smell - and as far as household appliances went not only would neither Chouji nor Sakura make that mistake but but both were pretty sure that neither of their significant others would even know what to do with them.

The gardening area was out the door as well, because Naruto hated gardening, something to do with traumatic D-Rank missions, and Ino owned a flower shoppe.

So there they were. Sakura and Chouji, comrades in this frustrating, heart wrenching war, face to face with the produce isles. Well, if chocolates and cookies were off the menu, then they'd just have to be good little ninjas and _improvise_.

When a new dawn rose the next day, neither Naruto or Ino had any idea what to expect as they stood side by side in front of Sakura's apartment door.

Sharing a slightly worried - not to mention awkward as both were not the type of people to often appear worried -, Naruto tentatively reached out to knock on the door. The frantic scrambling on the other side did nothing to alleviate the blonde duo's nerves, however it did increase their occassional desire to have a kekkai gekkai such as the Byakugan.

On the opposite side of the door, both Sakura and Chouji were equally worried as well. It was each couple's first Valentine's Day as an official couple and they all wanted to see many more to come. Sending one last nervous glance to the table behind them, Sakura and Chouji made their way to the door and last deciding factor of this heart twisting war.

It was the next day when an irate, somewhat bruised, Shikamaru was greeted by the sight of his teammates bidding farewell to two other long time friends at the gate. Judging by the blissful looks on everyone's face, this mission was going to grate his nerves like no other. If only Temari would've just accepted the Spa Basket with a damned smile, then he'd be rather euphoric too.

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Not the Valentine Day fanfic I was shooting for, but I can't argue with how it came out.

Thank you for reading and I hope you've enjoyed it! Feel free to review!


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